Designing systems for production from underground hydrocarbon reservoirs involves several highly scientific endeavors. For example, prior to drilling, a reservoir engineer uses sophisticated reservoir models to determine parameters such as formation capacity, permeability and fluid flow within the reservoir to determine an optimal number and locations where the a borehole penetrates the formation (“take points”). For each take point identified, further modeling is performed to help identify a proper type of physical interface between the formation and the borehole (“completion”). For example, geo-mechanical modeling may be used to determine stress magnitude and stress orientation in and in close proximity to the formation, and also to determine how pore pressure depletion (caused by hydrocarbon withdrawal) affects the stress magnitude and orientation. Using initial stress information and expected stress changes over time, material modeling may be performed on the rock formation to determine the failure modes and failure envelopes of the formation. Using the modeling results, a completion orientation and type is selected for each particular take point to fit the expected localized physical phenomena, production criteria and possibly financial considerations. From the take point locations and completion determination for each take point, a drilling strategy is devised to provide a borehole to each take point at the lowest possible cost, which translates into selecting a drilling center which provides the shortest possible borehole to each take point.
While the scientific endeavors related to identifying take points and identifying completion types represent a vast improvement over earlier days when drilling strategy and drilling budget were the driving factors in determining the number of boreholes drilled and their placement, further improvements in take point placement and extraction strategy can be made.